I was Walking the streets with Bengali poets in Dhaka, paying tribute to Rabindranath Tagore.
I have read Ravindranath Tagore many times. I love his writing so much that I know it by heart. I especially like his one story “Home and the World.” It is about matters of the heart; it is so beautiful. The moment that I finished watching the movie “Charulata,” I believed that the movie had provided a little peace for me.
Speaking to my grandfather, I said, “Literature should be like the moon, which symbolizes light in the dark night - a symbol of regard.” He replied as if repeating dialogue from an old film, “Nepal's situation is very bad – no jobs, no security, no good leaders – so you have to study and make money. Without making money, who will feed you? Your poems?”
When I read a song written by Rabindranath Tagore, “Walk Alone,” the whole night passed in what seemed like a minute. Songs that touch us make life really beautiful.
I told my father, “I am going to Dhaka. It would bring me great pleasure to attend the Bengali poetry program there and show my appreciation to Rabindranath Tagore.” A Bengali poet, Tagore was born in Calcutta, India.
“It is not so easy for a young girl to travel away from home,” my father said, trying to talk me out of my proposal. I did not care and told him, “I will go. Nothing can stop me from going to Dhaka. Please, don't say no.” My father stood dumbfounded. I have found that, many times, silence is a sign of permission, as when I am sharing my ideas and contributions with other poets.
Rabindranath Tagore's poems have inspired me from inside my heart. He wrote to add more beauty to this beautiful life. All the great poets and writers of the world whose works I have gotten the chance to read – in Nepali, Hindi or English – all of them are my favorite writers.
While in Dhaka, I had some new experiences. I got to see life as a canvas and imagined the blue sky and the sea. The birds flew freely, as I composed a poem and listened to it. I was anxious to go meet Rabindranath Tagore, and I wrote a small poem for him:
Life accept
it as compulsory fact.
Life stands
you are the light
You are my destination.